Thoughtful Thursdays - Don't Forget About Up Selling

You have likely received sales training or read articles about how important it is to understand your customers' needs. One subject in particular that is often thought about is the need to understand how much the customer is budgeting for the product or service you are offering.


Sometimes we get so focused on delivering to budget we miss a chance to up sell. By this I absolutely do not meant to sell customer what he does not need. Instead, offer alternatives that may prove to have longer term value. This speaks to knowing customer needs and perhaps their customers' needs. Don't forget that the customer may be internal.

A good friend of mine in the china industry unfortunately was not successful closing a sale to a corporate cafeteria. As any good sales person would do he followed up to find out what happened as the sales process was progressing well and he fully expected to get the order.

It turned out that the customer purchased a higher priced competitive product. What my friend failed to realize was that although he was quoting within the budget, the product offering was not really what the customer wanted. His competitor was able to determine this and up sold the slightly higher priced product that better met the needs. Price, although very important was not the only factor.

Needless to say this never happened again to my friend.

Good selling,
Richard